Phil Sayer's announcements

[Waverley125]

Can we start a campaign to take these across the nation?

Stations like peterborough, with no proper announce system, could really do with his dulcet tones. And leeds, the lady who does them there-she's good, but she's not Phil. (Though IIRC, she is Mrs Phil). Yet Burley park, 2 miles north, has full Phil-voiced train announcements.

BRING BACK PHIL!

 

[whoshotjimmi]

I like the announcements at Leeds. Prefer them to Phil. His voice still comes over the tannoy at New Pudsey and all I expect him to say is "we are sorry to announce....."

At Leeds, even when a train has been cancelled, one feels as though it is not too big a problem as she apologises and tells you what to do. I never got/get that feeling with Phil.

I will admit though that in certain parts of the station she can be difficult to hear above the ambient.

 

[Techniquest]

His voice still comes over the tannoy at New Pudsey

Excellent, when I go there on March 13th I'll be having a listen.

That woman at Leeds, I don't know what it is about it but it doesn't have the right sound. Especially for a large place like Leeds where it can be nigh on impossible to hear what's being said, more so if you've got a cacophony of DMUs leaving at the same time!

"Platform *158 take-off noise* for the *150 take-off noise* ...vice to Newcast...*142 squealing*"

Phil Sayer, however, and his announcements at places like New Street are booming throughout the station and you can clearly hear announcements. Well, unless on the stairs or near the barriers where all the norms are, then it becomes difficult to tell quite what's said. But generally it is clear.

"Platform EIGHT A for the 1824 London Midland(!) service to Lichfield City"

Much prefer the latter to the quiet woman at Leeds.

 

[voyagerdude220]

I always preferred it at Bristol Temple Meads, when the announcements were performed by Phil Sayer, instead of the female voice which replaced him a few years back. (It's not the same woman who does stations like Manchester Picc, Leeds, Liverpool Lime Street etc.)

The enthusiastic tone of voice which Phil Sayer pronounces 'London Midland' in always amuses me at Birmingham New Street, probably because he's incredbily impressed and surprised that his next few words are "has been cancelled"

 

[dan_atki]

Can we start a campaign to take these across the nation?

Stations like peterborough, with no proper announce system, could really do with his dulcet tones. And leeds, the lady who does them there-she's good, but she's not Phil. (Though IIRC, she is Mrs Phil). Yet Burley park, 2 miles north, has full Phil-voiced train announcements.

BRING BACK PHIL!

Just to clarify - the female voice on the SEMA system used at Leeds, Manchester Piccadilly, London Liverpool Street, London Charing Cross, London Bridge, and many other stations is not that of Phil's wife Elinor.

Phil's latest demise (well not so much him as much as the Ditra system his voice features on) is owing to the fact that Ditra announcement systems cause conflicts with some visual information systems.

Needless to say that TOCs (namely FCC and Northern) are aware that Phil is the better announcer in use and those that have got rid of Ditras now use Phil's voice on Funkwerk technology.

For clarification too, the female voice on Ditra is also not that of Phil's wife. The female Ditra voice is Celia Drummond. Elinor Hamilton (who forms the other half of sayerhamilton) does, however, voice announcements at London Underground stations.

 

[Techniquest]

I always preferred it at Bristol Temple Meads, when the announcements were performed by Phil Sayer, instead of the female voice which replaced him a few years back. (It's not the same woman who does stations like Manchester Picc, Leeds, Liverpool Lime Street etc.)

The enthusiastic tone of voice which Phil Sayer pronounces 'London Midland' in always amuses me at Birmingham New Street, probably because he's incredbily impressed and surprised that his next few words are "has been cancelled"

So true, he sounds so much better than the woman at Temple Meads!

I agree too that he does sound enthusiastic saying London Midland, same for CrossCountry really.

 

[thefab444]

One thing I will say about the Drummond woman is her new recordings are slightly less obvious than Phil's. For example, SWT's favourite engineering works annoucements:

"Platform 1 for the" (slightly more recent recording that most of the basic stuff) "10" "22" "CROSS COUNTRY SERVICE TO!" (much more recent and sounding very excited!) "Manchester Piccadilly". "Calling at" "Winchester" "Basingstoke" "Reading" "Oxford" "and" "Banbury" "WHERE THE TRAIN WILL THEN TERMINATE DUE TO ENGINEERING WORK" (very deep compared to the rest of the announcement).

This isn't as bad as the 'Mike' voice at London Bridge which, for certain Uckfield stations transforms into a totally different person... "Edenbridge Town"... (White British male voice) "HEVER COWDEN ASHURST..." (Back to Mike) "Crowbrough, Buxted, aannnn Uckfiel!". Some recordings are also whisper quiet, for example at Gatwick Airport... "where the train will divide" and "of the train" are barely audible. And this goes without mentioning his petrified "FIRST CAPITAL CONNECT" recording, or the non-existance of any acknowledgement of First Great Western, despite them serving Gatwick Airport for far longer than "CROSSCNTRY".

The most entertaining voice for me has to be the "Boofay" voice used on some Thames Trains and Great Eastern stations. Most stations seem to have only been recorded with an up inflex version, cue... "service to Birmingham New Street....!" or "service to Billericay......?!" Overall though, Phil is the probably the best, although I am also a fan (god, how sad I sound) of the 'Roger' voice used by Southeastern. The overly posh pronunciations of "Luton Airport Parkway - Lootn A-er-port Parrrkway" and "Dartford - Dattfud" are classic. Shame the female version is a complete slut.

Purely for the purpose of identifying the voices, here's a quick guide semi-complete with samples:

Phil
Celia
'Roger'
'Charlotte'
Mike
'Sarah'
'Boofay'
Ruth

There are some lesser known voices in use, a pre-privatisation BR woman who is now only at Bishops Stortford, and a Virgin Trains system which announces all trains as "Calling at xxxxx, yyyy and zzzz ONLY" even if the train is calling all stations. Ashford International uses an unusual system, the details of which I don't know other than it is a male voice - any info very welcome. In Wales there is a Welsh male voice who compliments Ruth, I'm not sure of his name but for the purposes of froth he is known as 'Glyn'. I'm not sure of the situation in Scotland.

Also there are many versions of the above, especially Phil and Celia.

Anyway, enough of my sad ravings!

PS If anyone wants any more recordings I am quite happy to post a couple more up on my webspace, just ask for the voice you want.

 

[jopsuk]

I want the on-train guy from 'one' back. Far more character than the current bland woman.

 

[kvbham]

London Midland stations across the West Midlands have got a new PIS and automated announcer - she sounds like Sarah or Celia (not sure which though) but the system is temperamental - sometimes the announcements occur sometimes they don't!

Personally I like I Phil; At Virgin Stations it looks like they have manual announcers!

 

[Pumbaa]

Who's the woman who does London King's Cross? She is the voice of the new PIS rolled out across LM stations.

 

[Galvanize]

Who's the woman who does London King's Cross? She is the voice of the new PIS rolled out across LM stations.

"Sarah"

 

[LilLoaf]

I women voice at Manchester Picc sounds like she has a cold, especially when she says "Northern". Funny the 1st few times but not when you've been standing there for half and hour.

 

[me123]

Scotrail have their own woman (don't know her name) who's good and doesn't sound too robotic.

The woman at Edinburgh Waverley is very clear, but she gets on my nerves a bit, because:

• If she's not said anything for a while, she'll play a random announcement about no smoking or icy weather or something. If a train's delayed, she announces it every few seconds.
• She's very robotic, and it's a bit monotonous after a few minutes.
• She feels the need to advertise that all trains are non-smoking.
• She always gets the NXEC trains the wrong way around, with regard to First Class.

 

[chuffchuff]

If you want to meet the chap that did the recordings for Ashford, Dover
Western Docks and Proiry (Last two not him now) He's working at Faversham
Also he's fluent in 4 or 5 languages

 

[thefab444]

I want the on-train guy from 'one' back. Far more character than the current bland woman.

Yeah, he was great!

WONNN WELCUMS YOU TO THIS.... HARRIDGE TAAN, SERVICE FOR... WABNESS... MISTLEEY... HARRIDGE INTERNASHNUL, DOVACOURT... AAAAN... HARRIDGE TAAAN. THE... NECKS STOP WILL BE.... WABNESS.

THIS CHRAIN IS FOR... LONDON, LIVERPOOOL STRAIGHT.... THE.... NECKS STOP WILL BE...... MAWKSTEY!

The "one welcomes you to this xxx service" bit was rather amusing, a man of his social background was hardly likely to refer to himself as "one".

 

[laseandre]

Scotrail have their own woman (don't know her name) who's good and doesn't sound too robotic.

The woman at Edinburgh Waverley is very clear, but she gets on my nerves a bit, because:

• If she's not said anything for a while, she'll play a random announcement about no smoking or icy weather or something. If a train's delayed, she announces it every few seconds.
• She's very robotic, and it's a bit monotonous after a few minutes.
• She feels the need to advertise that all trains are non-smoking.
• She always gets the NXEC trains the wrong way around, with regard to First Class.

Yeah, I was there on Sunday and she'd announce every half a minute or so that the "1330 - National Express - service to - London King's Cross - is delayed by approximately - thirty-seven - minutes. National Express - apologise for this late running and any inconvenience it may cause you."

Is she meant to sound Scottish?

 

[thefab444]

Slight tangent, but I'm aware Oxford (and Slough?) have had new CIS screens installed, and somebody said somewhere that the automated PA would also be replaced. Does anyone know if the previous "Boofay" voice still at these stations or has she been replaced and if so, who the voice is (my bet is on "Sarah" - hateful woman!)?

Ta

 

[Railjet]

I'd love to hear the old colonel-like London Bridge announcement: "the next train at platform x does not stop at London Bridge [or something similar].. stand away, there .. stand away!

 

[Assos]

Slight tangent, but I'm aware Oxford (and Slough?) have had new CIS screens installed, and somebody said somewhere that the automated PA would also be replaced. Does anyone know if the previous "Boofay" voice still at these stations or has she been replaced and if so, who the voice is (my bet is on "Sarah" - hateful woman!)?

Ta

I was at Oxford earlier - the one announcement played during the time I was there (the don't leave luggage unattended spiel) was done by Phil

 

[mrcheek]

Has anybody seen that new Microsoft advert, where you can here Ruth's voice in the background (announcing stops on a North Wales coast service it seems) at the end?

 

[mathmo]

Does anyone know why the announcements at Reading are so random? A platform alteration was recently announced manually, then by Phil (I think), then by an automated female voice as well! How come there are two different announcers?

 

[louis97]

The reason why the announcements at reading, go off in 2 voices is because platform 5/6/7/10(anymore?) are in female voice (Celia Drummond) and the rest are in the male voice (Phil Sayer) because all the platforms are split in to zones. So if they make a alteration from Platform 5 to 8 it will sound in both voices to tell people on both platforms whats happening, all of this is in 1 system.

Also, anyone know if the Phil/Celia system is at slough yet?

 

[thefab444]

Platforms 1 - 4B, 6 and 8 are "Phil" operated, with the Platforms 1 - 4 being on one loop, Platforms 4A & 4B being on another, and Platforms 6 and 8 being on a third loop.

Platforms 5, 7, 9 and 10 are "Celia" operated, with one loop for Platform 5 & 7 and one loop for Platform 9 & 10.

The reason is so that more than one announcement can be made at once without a "clash" in voices, which occurs at some stations with many loops but only one voice.

When you get an alteration, the voice on the platform the train was previously advertised to depart from will IMMEDIATELY announce (to both the loop of the first platform and the loop of the new platform):

Attention please. This is a platform alteration. The XX:XX service to yyyyyy will now depart from platform x. Platform x for the XX:XX service to yyyyyyy. (with a variation for trains due to terminate)

Once departure time nears, or immediately after the above depending on the time of the alteration, the voice on the new platform will announce (ONLY to the new platform):

Attention please. This is platform alteration. The XX:XX service to yyyyyy will now depart from platform x. Calling at zzzzz, gggg, and, yyyyyyy. A buffet service is available on this train. The XX:XX service to yyyyyy will now depart from platform x. (this announcement is not made for trains due to terminate - merely the usual "The next train at platform x terminates here")

Hope this clears it up.

Here is an example from Clapham Junction, when the 11:36 to Hampton Court was altered to depart from platform 9 (Celia) instead of platform 11 (Phil):

Phil Alteration (1st)
Celia Alteration (2nd)

It is rather amusing when a delayed train is altered, Celia sounds scared out of her wits with "The delayed"...

Celia "The Delayed"

And an example of an arriving train being altered...

Phil service from Alteration

 

[mathmo]

Wow - I didn't realise it was quite so complicated! Thanks for the explanation!

 

[thefab444]

That's the DITRA system for you! Some of the others are much more simple...

 

[F Great Eastern]

The one guy was Digital Dave on the 360's, he was very good if you ask me, very clear, very well recorded and almost sounded live, rather than put together. With regards to him saying "One' Welcomes you to this London Liverpool Street service, the reason it sounded odd was First Great Eastern recorded all the numbers being spoken before the 360s were intoduced.

The original opening was:
"First Great Eastern welcomes you to this London Liverpool Street service, calling at <blah blah> The next station is"

And original finishing:
"This is London Liverpool Street, where this train terminates, please take all your personal belongings when leaving the train. Thank you for traveling with First Great Eastern"

When the franchise changed Dave had left FGE, so they got his pre-recorded number one and put it on the start.

Now we have a posh lady who cannot say half the place names right, and she even advertises the metro, one announcement that really annoys me at Chelmsford is something like this

"This is Chelmsford. Please take all of your personal belongings when leeaving the train and mind the gap between the train and the platform. National Express and Metro Newspapers are helping keep a clean on train environment, please take your copy of your paper..."

TRAIN LEAVES

It continues:
"...with you when leaving the train. Change here for <blah>

Yes, unbelievable they advertise the metro newspaper and normally by the time they tell you what to change here for, the train has already left. The ordering of announcements is all wrong, and they're much more annoying than they ever were.

And Sarah at Liverpool Street is SO annoying. It's just the "Platform 14 for the <blah> NATIONAL EXPRESS SERVICE to <blah>" The words National Express really stat to irritate me just the way she says them.

 

[thefab444]

I was more referring to that fact that a man from Essex is hardly like to refer to himself as "One" e.g. "One would like a cup of tea" = "Cuppa innit". "One welcomes you to this Clacton service" = "Dis is da Cwaktun zervice" etc.

 

[F Great Eastern]

Oh I know, but it's nice to have a local voice rather than the one we have now who pronounces half of the names wrong. It's the same woman who does the Heathrow Connect ones.

 

[Phoenix]

I was more referring to that fact that a man from Essex is hardly like to refer to himself as "One" e.g. "One would like a cup of tea" = "Cuppa innit". "One welcomes you to this Clacton service" = "Dis is da Cwaktun zervice" etc.

Erm what is wrong with the Essex accent ill have you know we carry our words gently like a cloud on a breeze

 

[90019]

nvm